Background: Aberrant and non-functional RHD alleles are much more frequent in Africans than in Europeans. The DAU cluster of RHD alleles exemplifies that the alleles frequent in Africans have evaded recognition until recently. A comprehensive survey of RHD alleles in any African population was lacking.
Results: We surveyed the molecular structure and frequency of RHD alleles in Mali (West Africa) by evaluating 116 haplotypes. Only 69% could be attributed to standard RHD (55%) or the RHD deletion (14%). The aberrant RHD allele DAU-0 was predicted for 19%, RHDPsi for 7% and Ccdes for 4% of all haplotypes. DAU-3 and the new RHD allele RHD(L207F), dubbed DMA, were found in one haplotype each. A PCR-RFLP for the detection of the hybrid Rhesus box diagnostic for the RHD deletion in Europeans was false positive in 9 individuals, including all carriers of RHDPsi. Including two silent mutations and the RHD deletion, a total of 9 alleles could be differentiated.
Conclusion: Besides standard RHD and the RHD deletion, DAU-0, RHDPsi and Ccdes are major alleles in Mali. Our survey proved that the most frequent alleles of West Africans have been recognized allowing to devise reliable genotyping and phenotyping strategies.